Victorian illness infects hundreds as UK hospital admissions rise

The NHS has seen a rise in the number of people diagnosed with scabies

Hundreds of people in the UK have been hospitalised after contracting a rare skin disease. According to new figures from the NHS, there has been a rise in those diagnosed with scabies.

It is a rash caused by tiny mites which burrow into the skin. The illness can usually be treated with a cream or lotion but can be very itchy.

The NHS said people with a weakened immune system can sometimes get a rare and very contagious type of scabies called crusted scabies. Scratching the rash can cause skin infections like impetigo.

READ MORE: DWP major update on 'eligibility verification' checks as banks to 'monitor' claimants

Don't miss the biggest and breaking stories by signing up to the BirminghamLive newsletter here.

Scabies can also make conditions like eczema or psoriasis worse, the NHS said. Experts think poverty and falling vaccination rates are behind the surge in diseases such as scabies, measles and whooping cough.

Measles and whooping cough are also on the rise in many areas across Britain. Scabies is said to be on the rise in Yorkshire, YorkshireLive reports.

These are the areas with the largest prevalence of scabies in hospital in the year leading up to March, along with the figures from a year earlier. The numbers are rounded up to the nearest five and if there were fewer than seven cases, they are not available.

• Airedale: 25, up from ten a year earlier
• Barnsley: 25, up from 15 a year earlier
• Bradford: ten
• Calderdale and Huddersifled: 25, up from none a year earlier
• Harrogate: ten, same as a year earlier
• Leeds: 70, same as a year earlier
• Mid Yorkshire: 115, up from 95 a year earlier
• Sheffield Children's Hospital: 40, up from 25 a year earlier

In Doncaster and York, measles was more prominen - with 20 diagnosed in Doncaster, compared with zero a year earlier, and 10 in York, compared with zero a year earlier. Measles usually starts with cold-like symptoms before developing into a rash.

It can cause serious complications if it spreads to the lungs, or the brain. Across England, attendances resulting in a measles diagnosis increased five-fold, to 2,305 visits last year.

This was the largest increase among any condition with at least 1,000 hospitalisations in England. Whooping cough diagnoses also tripled, with 1,696 for the year.

Scabies cases rose by 66 per cent, with 5,661 primary and secondary diagnoses. Gwen Nightingale, assistant director of Healthy Lives at the Health Foundation, said poverty may impact the spread of these diseases.

She said: "Not having enough income to sustain a basic standard of living can have a negative impact on health, through factors like cold, damp homes or an inability to access healthy foods. The stress of living on a low income can also negatively impact health.

"The Government has a choice as to whether it wants to perpetuate the current numbers of families living in poverty." She urged the Government to make sure people have adequate incomes, good-quality affordable housing and access to green spaces to limit the spread of these diseases.

The UK Health Service Authority said the rise in measles hospitalisations could be a 'canary in the coal mine' for falling vaccination rates. A spokesperson added: "In addition to measles, many children are also missing out on protection against other serious diseases, including whooping cough, meningitis, diphtheria and polio. It is especially tragic to see kids suffer when these diseases are so easily preventable."

Steve Russell, NHS national director for vaccination and screening, said: "These worrying figures highlight that too many children are still not fully protected against diseases like measles and whooping cough, which can cause serious illness but are preventable. Vaccines are parents’ best defence against these illnesses – that’s why the NHS offers them free, saving thousands of lives and preventing tens of thousands of hospital admissions every year."

Mr Russell urged parents to check their child's vaccination records and to get in touch with their GP to book one if needed.